January 19, 2018

Theology in a Nutshell - Jesus: Jesus Teaches

4. Jesus Teaches

After about 30 years of living in obscurity in Nazareth, Jesus left his home and family to begin his life’s work: proclaiming and teaching about a new kind of community that he called God’s kingdom. This kingdom is both a place (a realm or community that people can enter) and an experience of God’s lordship (an active rule over us and our lives) that replaces the domination of our world by the evil powers of Satan.

Jesus’ teaching was directed to helping people discover God’s presence in their lives and then respond to God’s presence by committing themselves to God’s new community. In order to get people to notice God’s hidden presence and respond to it, Jesus told his audiences stories called parables. These parables invited the audience to hear about everyday situations in which people discover things that are hidden, must then decide what to do and in the process have their lives changed. When we connect the parable stories with our lives, we also learn what it is like to find God present as part of our life and how by responding we can then be changed.